19.1

POLICY STATEMENT

All Families First participants who are
self-employed (as defined below) qualify to have a Low-income Entrepreneur
Escrow Account administered by a Community Based Organization (CBO) in which
profits that are not reinvested in their business can be escrowed. These
profits and the interest earned, up to $5,000, would not be counted towards a
Families First participantís resource limit for the Families First, Food
Stamp and Medicaid programs.† However,
when a participant is no longer in the Families First program, the funds in
escrow are then applied to the familyís resource limit when calculating
continued eligibility for Medicaid and Food Stamps. The escrowed profits are
placed in a micro-lending intermediary program.

In order to exempt the escrow profits up to $5,000, a participant
must:

∑Be a
Families First participant and be in compliance with the work/work related
requirements in his/her Families First PRP.

∑Be
self-employed (if an individualís income, divided by the minimum wage, equals
at a† minimum twenty hours per week,
the individual is considered to be self- employed), and

∑Be enrolled
and participate in a micro-lending program that provides entrepreneurship
training, technical assistance and peer support.

Only the amount in escrow over $5,000 is counted as resource for an
eligible participant.